My Son started drum lessons and when he came home he asked me if I could make
him a drum practice pad.
In this video I show you how I made a drum practice pad.
Hi I'm AJ and you're watching Woodified! I make DIY and woodworking videos.
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My Son's snare drum is 10 inches so I
figured that would be a good size for a drum pad.
After marking the center of the circle. I roughly cut out the circle using my scroll saw.
I thought I'd try making a circle cutting jig for my rotor table on a scrap piece of plywood I
measured in five inches which is the radius of the circle and I marked a
screw location. I then put a screw into the scrap piece of wood.
I then lined up the screw with the center mark of the circle and screwed it in place.
Over at the rotor table I mark the center of the jig so I could line it up with the
center of the rotor bit.
With the jig lined up to the rotor bit I clamped the jig in place.
Here you can see I didn't have enough hands to spin the circle and
hold the shop vac so I decided, ah screw it! I'll just make a mess.
After completing one pass I raised the rotor bit and made another pass. After I
completed the second pass I realized that I did not compensate for the
thickness of my jig. My 3/4 inch rotor bit was not long enough to cut all the
way through the 3/4 MDF with the jig in place.
To fix this problem I found a flush trim bit and finished
cutting out the circle. I'm sure there's a much better way to cut out a circle.
How do you cut out circles? Let me know in the comments below. I'll need that for
my next circle project.
Here I'm learning that two clamps are better than one.
And of course the circle cutting jig is now in the way of finishing my circle.
I remove the jig clamp the circle to the workbench and clean up the spot where the jig was attached.
And drum roll please.....
I ended up with one perfect 10 inch MDF circle.
For the top of the drum pad I bought a sheet of 1/8 inch rubber from
a local plumbing supply store and for the bottom I bought a sheet of cork.
I traced the outline of the circle on the rubber and on the cork. I'm using contact
cement I'll put a Amazon affiliate link in the description below. This is not a
sponsored video however if you would like to support my channel please use
the link for your next Amazon purchase using the link does not cost you any
extra money. Spread a nice even coat of contact cement on the materials making
sure to go right to the edge and over the line. Read the directions on your
contact cement mine dries in 15 minutes. To test for dryness press a piece of
paper against the cemented surfaces. They might be slightly tacky but if the
adhesive does not adhere to the paper then it's dry enough to bond the materials
together. A word of caution contact cement bonds instantly on contact!
So make sure that you line up the pieces before touching the material together,
because you will not be able to re-position
the work pieces. Using scrap wood and some screws I made some stands to hold
the wet side of the MDF so I could apply contact cement to the other side of the
work piece.
Once the pieces are bonded I rolled the material with a large dowel to make sure
the pieces were pressed together well.
Using a knife I cut along the edge of the MDF. Now it helps if you have a sharp
knife. Here you can see my knife looks a little dull because I'm tearing the cork
instead of cutting it. With a cork base bonded and cut out I test the cement on
the other side of the MDF and on the rubber sheet and it's ready to be bonded.
I'm taking my time to line up the work pieces before making contact. I flip it
over and again with my large dowel I'm rolling out the rubber to make sure that
there's nice even pressure so I get a good bond. With a sharp knife
I make light cuts in the rubber following the edge of the MDF. Now I'm
trying to keep the blade parallel to the MDF so I end up with a nice 90 degree
cut on the rubber sheet. I don't have a clip showing it but I did sand the edge
of the cork by hand with some 220 grit sandpaper just enough to round over the
edge. I have one drum practice pad ready for some drum patterns. As you can
probably tell I'm not a drummer so please excuse the horrible drumming
technique. For the drummer's that are watching this what rudiment are you
currently practicing? Let me know in the comments below. If you like this video
please drum the thumb button! And share this video with another drummer. See you
in the next video!
tap, tap,
tap-tap, tap-tap.....